Thinking differently: mitigating quality compromises

2024 was not a good year for quality in terms of what we produce or how we produce it. According to the Sedgewick Recall Index 2024 reports, product recalls reached unprecedented highs: a 10-year high in Europe and a six-year high in the USA. The food and beverage, medical devices and consumer products sectors all saw recall levels increase from 2023.  

Critical quality failures from Boeing in the USA and the Post Office in the UK highlighted the fundamental impact of poor-quality governance, leadership and culture. 

Quality management: a foundation for success 

At the same time organisations are not improving how work is done or responding to emerging changes from digital transformation to product safety trends at pace. Between 1974 and 2008, the UK’s productivity grew at an average rate of 2.3% per year, and only about 0.5% since then. Data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) highlights a stark 8.5% decline in public sector productivity since 2019.  

All this points to problems in how the quality of work is managed and improved. Cast your mind back 40 years and good quality management for business excellence was a matter of national competitiveness, productivity and even pride. It must be again.

A firm foundation in the UK would be for the government to advocate for quality management in its policy, from industrial strategy to public service reform (see our response to the UK government green paper).

Thinking differently, innovatively and bravely   

The quality profession must seize this opportunity to step up, engage and influence. Proven, high-quality management is widely recognised as essential for doing business and staying competitive. But it can also be seen as a bureaucratic brake on business.

We need to shift organisational mindsets from quality governance to quality capability and culture, from quality assurance to performance and from quality improvement to innovation.

Vince Desmond, CEO, CQI

The profession must assist and guide organisations to improve what they produce and enhance their production methods sustainably, reliably and efficiently.

Our ‘think differently’ World Quality Week theme and Quality Live 2025 calls for ‘dreamers and disruptors’ to join us as we reflect on and reimagine how we approach quality – together as a global community.

I look forward to hearing those responding bravely and innovatively to our contemporary context at Quality Live in June and throughout the year.